About

American Entertainment Investors, Inc. was founded in 1996 by prominent media investment banker and film financier Joseph N. Cohen. The company’s expertise covers five complementary core businesses:

Financial and Strategic Consulting to Studios and Independent Production and Distribution companies: AEI acts as an Advisor on all aspects of finance, distribution, strategic planning, valuations and acquisitions/divestitures.

Working with smaller production companies with meaningful capital resources to bring them into high-profile film and television projects as co-financers/co-producers to bolster their industry bona fides. Our objective is for such entities to become formal retainer clients over time.

Film and Television library valuations and advising buyers and sellers on library transactions. AEI and its predecessor company advised on the sale of The Kings Road, Handmade Films and Largo libraries and performed a number of library valuations, including Intermedia, Morgan Creek International and First Look Studios.

Executive Producing (Financing/Packaging/Distribution) of Film and TV Projects: AEI facilitates independent producers’ access to financing and distribution of film, television and new media projects.

Mezzanine Financing to the film and television industries: AEI, through a network of high net worth individuals, provides production financing, primarily on a mezzanine, “gap” or preferred equity basis, for individual feature film and television projects.

AEI is particularly known in Industry circles for its role in advising prominent independent production and distribution companies, including Alcon Entertainment (My Dog Skip, Insomnia, P.S. I Love You, Book of Eli, Dolphin Tale, The Blind Side, Prisoners), River Road Entertainment (Brokeback Mountain, Into the Wild, Tree of Life, 12 Years A Slave) and Exclusive Media Group (The Ides of March, The Woman in Black,End of Watch).

AEI has recently advised on several film funds raised by its production clients, including Black Label Media (The Good Lie, Sicario) and 1821 Media.

AEI is very active in the mezzanine space and has provided gap financing on a number of films, including the 2008 Academy-Award winning film The Hurt Locker and recently A Walk Among the Tombstones, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, The Man Who Knew Infinity and Kevin Smith’s Yoga Hosers.

In 2010, AEI advised Goldman Sachs and Assured Guaranty, the primary creditors of The Weinstein Company, on a restructuring of the company. AEI now serves as the Administrator of Portfolio Funding Company, LLC, which owns the pre-2011 Weinstein Company Library.